Now playing: A midi file from Final Fantasy

BEFORE this scene >>>

The Irie family was having dinner at Aihara's sushi restaurant. Kinnosuke, who is working there as an apprentice, openly declared his love for Kotoko. For the sake of giving Kotoko happiness, he is willing to work hard and told Naoki that he would not lose to him. Machiko happily praised him for deciding his future based on love and urged Naoki to do the same. Meanwhile, Kotoko mumbled excitedly to herself about being wooed by two men (Naoki and Kinnosuke). 

  The SCENE >>>

  When they left the restaurant, Kotoko starts ranting on about her future direction. Naoki tells her not to bother about doing anything because 'her head must be empty now'.

  Of course, Kotoko turns to Naoki then and questions him relentlessly on his goal. When he does not reply, she says smugly that he also does not know anything and is confused like her.

  Naoki rebuts that his business is none of her concern but Kotoko insists it does concern her. When Naoki says 'No' again, she gets very agitated and just shouts very loudly in public.:

"It does concern me! Because in this world, you are the person I like most!"

Naoki stopped short....

Things are stagnant for a while....

People stare at them....

Then Kotoko realises they are in a public place....

Shocked, her mouth falls wide open....

Naoki turns around and says, " Baka."

However, before Naoki turns around to face Kotoko, it seems that he has this smile playing on his lips. It's not very obvious and is one of those blink-and-you-will-miss-it kind. Maybe he's actually pleased to hear Kotoko's spontaneous love declaration for him? ^_^

  Perhaps, 'amused' would be a more appropriate term to describe his sentiments then. After all, how many people would actually dare to shout out their love so openly? :)

  One thing to note is that, Naoki responded to Kotoko (in his own way). His reaction here is so different from the time Reiko said she likes him (in the previous episode). He remained indifferent then.

The REASON behind? >>>

A possibility is that it may be due to what happened in the restaurant then.

It's like this >>> When Kinnosuke announced, "What's wrong with betting my whole life for the woman I love?" (referring to Kotoko) Naoki immediately turned to look at Kotoko. (She did not notice it) The expression was one of....surprised?...Jealous?...Felt threatened? (Refer to pic on the left)

It seems to be a mixture of all 3, but one thing for sure is that his usual non-chalent self is gone for a moment. Perhaps he just doesn't like to hear  about another guy liking Kotoko. =P

So when Kotoko expresses her feelings for him, he cannot control the smile that comes to his face. 'Cos he feels more assured now! =P

There's this remark which Kotoko made (in the restaurant):

"When love rivals meet each other, they cannot help but to feel jealous."

What a pity she does not realise how true this can be sometimes! =)

Note: This can be seen as the stepping stone towards the kiss initiated by Naoki at the end of Episode 4. Since Kotoko has already declared her love for him so openly, he knows that she would not dislike him so easily. So the kiss is kind of like a challenge to her. Thus, he is quite shaken up when Kotoko later said that it is not a real kiss.

For more details, please see Cold & Hot Kiss

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